Captain Britain Omnibus

Product Information

I love the introduction of the Captain Britain Corps, Otherworld, the Fury, Megan and so much more that added to the mythos. Claremont equips Captain Britain with a solidly traditional supporting cast - relatives, a love interest, a superhero-hating cop - and an origin involving Merlin offering a choice between the Sword Of Might and the Amulet Of Right. The 10-year British publication of Captain Britain ends with a thoughtful issue resolving one of the book's longest-running subplots, the pointless feud between the Captain and Inspector Dai Thomas. Understanding Captain Britain as a fantasy character more than a superhero is key to what makes him work. And then the characters are handed back to Claremont, who will go on to use them in Excalibur, a book that's often a tribute to the ideas of Thorpe, Moore, Davis and Delano here.

In the end it's Moore's take on Captain Britain that's stuck - a well meaning posh boy miles out of his depth in a much darker, weirder world than he realises - but it's also true that nothing in his earlier adventures contradicts that at all.But the core story line stands and could even have future legs under a serious creative hand who could escape the 'woke'. As well as including challenging subject matter and adult themes, he brings a wide range of influences to his work, from the literary–authors such as William S. Now, thrill to a complete collection of Captain Britain’s iconic UK adventures - from questing alongside the Black Knight to battling Jim Jaspers and the Fury to prevent Earth from becoming a crooked world! The most straightforward of these is Captain Britain's creator, Chris Claremont, who landed the gig because he'd been born here (Herb Trimpe, the artist, supposedly got the job on the strength of one holiday in Cornwall).

The 80's Psylocke, deceptively weak in her lavender gossamer, had an immense amount of potential, and I yet mourn her transformation into a thong-wearing ninja. This omnibus lives up to its name with over 1300 pages of Captain Britain material from his first appearance through his various British serials onto an X-Men Annual in 1987. And Captain Britain remains one of the greatest 'superhero' runs I've had the privilege to read yet. Ultimately, the experiment in a Marvel style British superhero was a failure, and Captain Britain spent a couple of years in limbo before reappearing as a supporting character in Steve Parkhouse and John Stokes' Black Knight strip. This was an adventure from the early 80's after they revived the character and gave him a new uniform, and dispensed with his 6 foot staff.This omnibus begins right after the “Siege of Camelot” epic; Merlin sends Brian Braddock back to his universe, and gives him some new threads and powers. In one of them, Brian Braddock gets tempted with his heart's desire - a quiet, boring life as an English Dad.

Moore bridges the early contradictions by making Captain Britain a determined fighter against fascism and intolerance while retaining his link to Albion. The X-men annual is memorable for Psylocke ripping off her outer skin to reveal a steel form underneath. And when the events that destroyed that world begin to repeat themselves on his own, Captain Britain faces a destiny that he cannot avert.

This is where the legendary Alan Davis shows up and changes Captain Britain for the ever and for the better. Yet both of these runs birthed something extraordinary into the comic lexicon, for a fleeting handful of years. Worthwhile, but if Marvel publishes a collection of just the Moore stuff, jump on that instead, unless you HAVE to have everything, like me.